Seldom, NL

Registered Heritage Structure

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Description

The Fishermen’s Union Trading Company Premises is a two-storey, low pitch gable roof fisheries/mercantile building located at the shoreline, in close proximity with other, related structures, in the community of Seldom, NL. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Statement of Significance

Formal Recognition Type

Registered Heritage Structure

Heritage Value

The Fishermen’s Union Trading Company Premises has been designated a Registered Heritage Structure by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador for its aesthetic and historic values. The Fishermen’s Union Trading Company Premises is aesthetically valuable because it is a good example of an early-twentieth-century fisheries/mercantile building. Built of wood, this large store has a main facade on both land and water sides, revealing its purpose as a fisheries building and a mercantile building. The water side has large multi-paned windows and a door on the second floor and smaller windows with a double door on the ground level. This suggests the fisheries-type activities which may have made use of the building, accessing this side for trade. The land facade is nearly identical to the other, without the second floor door. Access to this would have been primarily for the retail store; the second floor was occupied by the Fishermen’s Union Trading Company Ltd. The building is sheathed in narrow wood clapboard with wide wood cornerboards, and had plain wide window trim and utilitarian-style plank doors with strap hinges. On one side a protruding bay window extends from the eave, creating an unusual dormer window in the Fishermen’s Union Trading Company office. The Fishermen’s Union Trading Company Premises is also aesthetically valuable for its position on the landscape, adding to the cultural value of the shoreline. This building is sited next to several other related historic buildings including a Cod Liver Oil Factory and a salting shed, as well as a modern marina which accepts yachts and sailboats from around the world. The Fishermen’s Union Trading Company Premises is historically valuable for its associations with Sir. William F. Coaker, founder of the Fishermen’s Protective Union (1908) as a reaction to the deplorable conditions of fishermen at that time. Coaker rebelled against the powerlessness fishermen had against the merchant truck system of credit which saw fishermen in considerable debt to merchants and an endless cycle of credit/debt between them. Coaker’s Fishermen’s Protective Union gave power back to fishermen when they railed against this type of trade. Coaker’s idea culminated in trade unions developing in communities across Newfoundland, including the creation of the Fishermen’s Union Trading Company Ltd. Stores. The store in Seldom was the fourth branch store opened, begun in 1913. Its purpose was to provide a cooperative for fishermen. It operated on a barter system basis where customers would receive winter provisions in exchange for their summer’s catch of fish. The Trading Company in Seldom closed in 1978, but the building was reused, and eventually, by 1997 was restored as the Fogo Island Marine Interpretation Centre and, along with four other buildings, is a popular tourist attraction. Source: Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador property file “Seldom -Fishermen’s Union Trading Company Premises – FPT 4510”

Character Defining Elements

All those elements of the fisheries-related type structure, including: -wooden construction; -narrow wood clapboard; -wide, flat corner boards and window and door mouldings; -wooden windows, their sizes, shapes, locations and number of existing panes; -wooden plank doors with strap hinges; -low-pitch gable roof; -dormer window shaped like a three-sided bay; -location on the shore with surrounding, related buildings; -entrances located on the land side and water side; -large “FU Trading Co. Ltd.” sign bands located under the eaves on both main facades; and -all original interior features which relate to the Fishermen’s Protective Union and its trading operations, such as the original store with shelves, main counter, signage, etc.